Pathfinder - The Warpriest Handbook

Disclaimer

I will use content from the core rules, but will intentionally omit any content not published
on the official Pathfinder SRD due to the
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basis. I will use the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build
handbooks. Also note that many colored items are also links to the Paizo SRD.

Red: Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational.

Orange: OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances

Green: Good options.

Blue: Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character.

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Introduction

The Warpriest is a combination of the Fighter and the Cleric, but manages to be
distinctively different from the Paladin. The Warpriest depends more heavily on spells
than the Paladin, and have very few defensive class abilities. Fervor allows the
Warpriest to rely on self-buffing spells without cutting into damage output, and
the Warpriest's abilities are full of great buff options usable as a Swift Action.

Warpriest Class Features

Hit Points: d8 hit points is hard for a combat class,
but the Warpriest has enough options to get by on d8 hit points.

Base Attack Bonus: 2/3 BAB is enough to get by in
combat, but the Warpriest can't match a Fighter in terms of raw martial skill.

Saves: Good Fortitude and Will saves, especially because
Warpriests need Wisdom for their spells. Reflex saves will be a problem.

Skills: With 2+ skill ranks and no other need for
Intelligence, the Warpriests skills are very thin.

Spells: Warpriests are 2/3 casters, and select their
spells from the Cleric spell list. This allows a huge number of fantastic options,
and allows you to change your role in the party on a daily basis.

Aura: This almost never comes up.

Blessings: Warpriest Blessings offer a lot of very
interesting options to fit your play style. For help selecting Blessings, see my
Warpriest
Blessing Breakdown.

Focus Weapon: Weapon Focus for free gives you a nice
+1 to attacks, but locks you into one weapon for the rest of your career.

Orisons: Versatile and fantastic. Don't underestimate
the effectiveness of Virtue at low levels.

Sacred Weapon: Sacred Weapon is a very weird mechanic
which allows you to override your weapon's normal damage die with the one specified
for your Sacred Weapon. This damage won't surpass a longsword until 10th level, but
because the damage die scales and using a two-handed weapon doesn't change it, you
might be able to do something clever with Vital Strike at high levels. Be sure to
get yourself permanently enlarged so that you get the bigger dame dice. You also get
the ability to magically enhance your weapon for a few rounds per day similar to a
Magus or Paladin. Being limited to rounds/day is unfortunate, but it adds some nice
versatility to your weapon.

Spontaneous Casting: The Warpriest can spontaneously
cast cure/inflict spells just like a Cleric.

Bonus Languages: Pointless. Either cast Tongues or spend
a couple of ranks on Linguistics.

Fervor: This is absolutely amazing. You can use Fervor
to heal yourself or someone else like a crappy version of Lay on Hands, or you can
cast any Warpriest spell on yourself as a Swift action. This means that you can cast
effectively Quickened, Stilled spells at 2nd level, which is fantastic for useful
buffs with short durations that you can't predict needing before a fight starts,
and you don't need to juggle your weapon to find a free hand to cast with.

Bonus Feats: Free feats, and you get access to Fighter-only
feats like Weapon Specialization and Disruptive.

Channel Energy: Channel Energy is nice as an AOE heal
for your party, but it consumes two uses of Fervor. Because Fervor is so powerful and
allows so few uses per day, Channel Energy should be a used very sparingly.

Sacred Armor: Unlike Sacred Weapon, the Warpriest can
enhance their armor for minutes/level. This is great when you don't have other buffs
which you need to cast using Fervor, or when you're low on spells. By 7th level you
should easily be able to use this in every fight in a day.

Aspect of War: This is a fantastic buff.

Abilities

The following abilities assume that you're planning to play a melee Warpriest,
which is likely considering that Warpriests get heavy armor. If you plan to play a
ranged Warpriest, switch Strength and Dexterity.

Str: Your primary offensive ability.

Dex: You need at most 12 to max out full plate and to
give you a bit of help with the Warpriest's poor Reflex saves.

Con: Everyone needs hit points.

Int: Used for nothing but skills. If your party can cover
your skill needs, dump to 7.

Wis: Your spellcasting ability, and determines uses per
day for several Warpriest abilities.

Cha: Used for nothing but skills. Dump to 7.

25 Point Buy

20 Point Buy

15 Point Buy

Elite Array

Str: 16

Dex: 12

Con: 14

Int: 12

Wis: 16

Cha: 7

Str: 16

Dex: 12

Con: 14

Int: 10

Wis: 15

Cha: 7

Str: 16

Dex: 12

Con: 12

Int: 10

Wis: 14

Cha: 7

Str: 15

Dex: 12

Con: 13

Int: 10

Wis: 14

Cha: 8

Races

Bonuses to Strength and Wisdom are great, and bonuses to Constitution will help
compensate for the Warpriest's d8 hit points.

Dwarf: Bonuses to two of the Warpriest's most important
abilities, a penalty to the Warpriest's dump stat, Darkvision, and a bunch of really
great resistances. The Dwarf favored class bonus offers a few extra uses per day of
the Warpriest's Blessings, but you need to use specific blessings.

Elf: Nothing useful for the Warpriest.

Gnome: Absolutely nothing good for the Warpriest.

Half-Elf: Flexible ability bonus, bot nothing
specifically helpful for the Warpriest. You can trade in some alternate racial
features to make the Half-Elf a bit more appealing, like the Ancestral Weapons
trait which can let you use something cool like a Falcata as your Sacred Weapon.
The Half-Elf favored class bonus is awful, but Half-Elves can also take the Elf
or Human favored class bonuses, and getting bonus combat feats is a great option.
If you're planning to take Exotic Weapon Proficiency, the Half-Elf is essentially
equal to the Human.

Half-Orc: Flexible ability bonus and Darkvision.
The Half-Orc favored class bonus is garbage unless you plan to spend a lot of
time dying, so take the Human favored class bonus instead for some free combat
feats.

Halfling: Absolutely nothing good for the Warpriest.

Human: Fantastic and versatile. The flexible ability
bonus can go in either Strength or Wisdom depending on your play style. The Human
favored class bonus gets you extra combat feats, which may be the best favored class
bonus in the game.

Skills

Climb (Str): Too situational.

Diplomacy (Cha): Essential for any Face, but
Charisma is a dump stat for the Warpriest.

Handle Animal (Cha): The Warpriest doesn't get a pet
to train.

Heal (Wis): Excellent supplement to magical healing,
and the Warpriest should have decent Wisdom.

Intimidate (Cha): Essential for any Face, but
Charisma is a dump stat for the Warpriest.

Knowledge (engineering) (Int): Situational.

Knowledge (religion) (Int): One of the most important
Knowledge skills.

Ride (Dex): The Warpriest doesn't get a mount
to ride.

Sense Motive (Wis): Essential for any Face, but
Charisma is a dump stat for the Warpriest.

Spellcraft (Int): Great for identifying spells and
magic items.

Survival (Wis): Situational.

Swim (Str): Too situational.

Feats

Channeled Blessing: The range on Channel Energy
is puny. Walk over and deliver the blessing.

Vital Strike: The Warpriest's scaling Sacred
Weapon damage is very exciting alongside Vital Strike, but the damage won't match
a Large Bastard Sword (the gold standard of Vital Strike) until 20th level. However,
Sacred Weapon works with any weapon, so you might consider access to a shield or
a weapon which works with weapon finesse an acceptable compromise.

Weapons

Because your weapon's damage scales thanks to Sacred Weapon, go for something with
cool abilities or a high threat range like a flail or a scimitar. You're not limited
to your deity's favored weapon by any of the Warpriest's abilities.

Armor

Armor is presented in the order in which you should acquire it, rather than
alphabetical order.

Hide: Good, cheap starting armor if you don't
want to spend the gold to get four-mirror.

Four-Mirror: The best AC bonus which you can afford
at level 1.

Heavy Shield: Great for the AC bonus, but using
a heavy shield makes it difficult to cast spells because you need to drop your
weapon or shield to get a free hand. However, many GMs will hand-waive this rule.

Buckler: Superior to the light shield in every way,
but you can switch to using a weapon two-handed without dropping it, and you
always have a hand free to cast spells.

Full Plate: The best armor you can get.

Multiclassing and Prestige Classes

The Warpriest is already a hybrid class, so there is little reason to multiclass
further.